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More Gardening Challenges - Pallet Wood Covers
It's really been a frustrating experience trying to grow some food out in my pallet wood raised beds. Something has been eating almost all my pepper, lettuce and Swiss chard plants...
All those plants were previously coming along just fine, and I was hoping to harvest some lettuce and Swiss chard this week. Now, I'm just hoping that the plants can be saved if protected.
I built a frame out of some scrap 2X2's...
Then I used some old 2-foot chicken wire to cover the frame. After that, I put it on top of my smaller 2X4 foot hügelkultur raised bed. I hope it will deter whatever animal is eating my plants, but I don't know. Here is a picture of the new pallet/salvaged wood protective cover in place...
I built another cover for the raised bed right next to it, too. Again, using whatever wood and chicken wire I had laying around.
I don't know if it's too late to save these plants, but at least I will have some cover protection for next year. I think the lettuce will come back, but there was very little to the Swiss chard plants left, so I am less optimistic about them recovering.Some of you may remember that these 2X4 foot raised beds were placed alongside my chicken run fence. The idea was to plant peas and beans so they would grow up the run fence as a trellis. I have to report that idea has not worked out for me. The chickens are eating all the peas plants as they grow, and what they cannot reach, something else is eating the plants from the other side of the fence.
I don't really know what is eating all my plants this year. I see squirrels running all over the yard and suspect them of digging in the raised garden beds. This is also a bumper year for rabbits, some that are so bold that they just sit in the shade only five or six feet away from me and don't bother to run away when I approach them. I have never seen them jump up into my 16 inch tall raised beds, but it sure looks like rabbits eating those lettuce, Swiss chard and pepper plants.But I also have a new critter on my list this year which are chipmunks. They have shown up running around my yard, and worse yet, I found a number of chipmunk burrows in one of my raised beds. That was the raised bed where I put the first frame cover with chicken wire. Unfortunately, if it is chipmunks eating all those plants, the chicken wire will not stop them. I would have to redo the frames with 1/2-inch hardware cloth to keep them out.
I am currently in the process of making more pallet/salvaged wood frames for my 4X4 foot raised beds as well. It might be too late for this year, but I will be ready for next year's battle!
The real heartbreaker this year was that something dug up and ate all Dear Wife's (a Filipina) bitter melon plants when they were young. I started those plants inside the house at the start of April and was so hopeful of a good harvest this year. I restated some new seeds, but it's doubtful the plants will have enough time to grow and mature once transplanted. I'm already 3 months behind on those plants, so it's not looking good for any bitter melons this year. Of course, the heartbreak is that we cannot buy bitter melon locally at our stores.
Well, I will leave this post on a positive note. My elevated bean planters are really doing well, I have some zucchini plants that are looking real good, about 6 squash plants that are spreading out just fine, and my tomatoes are really taking off growing up the ropes on my pallet wood trellis frames I built. I planted 100 green onion bulbs and we have already enjoyed eating some of them. And, to my surprise, I planted 8 banana pepper plants in my lakeside hügelkultur raised bed as "extras" because I did not have room in my backyard main raised beds, and those extras are the only ones that were not eaten by the varmints!
Great to hear. Sounds like your garden is well ahead of mine.
I have been using chainsaws for about 50 years. Currently I have 3 two-handed full-sized chainsaws, 2 smaller one-handed pruning chainsaws, and about 3 or 4 reciprocating chainsaws with various blades on them. It's nice to have tool options depending on the job that needs to be done. Again, just be sure to protect yourself when using any saw.
As for me, Dear Wife does not want to touch any of my more powerful tools. But she will use a manual clipper for trimming instead of a powered hedge trimmer, or even that little pruning chainsaw. If it's a job that requires powered tools, she has me do it. At least I still have some value around the house...
Last week, I had a 4-inch zucchini that I was hoping to harvest this week. Unfortunately, something started taste testing it, so I had to pick at only 4 inches long with a few bites out of it. Must have been a squirrel or chipmunk, but maybe a rabbit if they can jump up 2 feet high into that raised bed. Anyway, we were able to cut it up and toss it into a sauce that Dear Wife was cooking up in the kitchen. So, not a total loss.
